Cartridge-loading machine



Cartridge Vfiling lVlaJ-ohine. Y

Eli-l @MMA ilwrTnn STATES PATENT Ormea.

ORLANDO F. BELOHER, OF VVINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS.

CARTRIDGE-LOADING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 231,753, dated August 31, 1880.

Application led May 22, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ORLANDO F. BELOHER, a citizen of Winthrop, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gartridge-Load` ing M achines; and I do hereby declare the fol lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to machines for loading cartridges for sporting shot-guns, in which the following elementary features are incorporated: first, two receivers or hoppers for containing the requisite quantities of powder and shot; second, a gate or gates containing the charging-chambers and operating with the receivers to regulate the esca-pe of their contents; third, a support for the cartridge-shell adapted to hold the same mouth upward beneath the shifting gate or charger and permit the shell to be readily and expeditiously introduced to the machine to receive its charge and as readily and ezqneditiouslyY removed after being charged.

My improvements in this ela-ss of machines consist, 'rst, in the employment, in combina tion with the chamber or orifice of the shotcharger and the outlet of the shot-hopper, of an elastic or yielding sleeve or seat, whereby a pellet of shot, which would otherwise be caught between the parts and obstruct the rotation of the gate, is allowed to escape into the passage leading to the cartridge-shell 5 secondly, in the manner of attaching the guide which supports the cartridge-shell in an upright position while being loaded, the same consisting in pivoting the guide or support at or near its center to the machine-frame by a horizontal pivot, which permits it to be turned upon such pivot and its lower end diverted to one side of the base or shelf upon which the shell rests, the same being to permit of ready insertion of the shell to receiveits charge and of its removal after being loaded 5 thirdly, in the employment, in combination with the oscillating guide, of a shifting or adjustable shelf or seat for supporting the base of the cartridge-shell, and susceptible of being raised and lowered with respect to a shoulder in the upper part of the guide, against which thel (No model.)

mouth of the shell abuts in order to adapt the machine to shells of varying lengths, the said shelf or seat consisting of a recessed button' or head having a screwthreaded shank to screw into a corresponding screw threaded orice in the lower part of the machine-frame, as hereinafter explained.

Minor details of my improvements will be duly explained.

The drawings accompanying this specifica tion represent, in Figure l an isometric eleva tion, and in Fig. 2 a vertical section, of a machine embodying my improvements. Fig. 3 is an under-side View, and Fig. 4 a plan, of the vibratin g gate or charger-block.

In said drawings, the frame of the machine is represented at A as composed of a eastmetal block or standard adapted to be clamped to a bench or table after the manner of this class of machines in general, the upper rear corner of such standard being recessed at B for the reception of the vibrating reciprocating charger-block or gate, to be hereinafter described, the chamber B having a single outlet or escape passage, O, at its front part, which communicates with a duct, D, leading downward to the locality occupied by the mouth of the shellguide. The chamber B, in the presentinstance, is circular, and receives the lowerend or mouth of a can or vessel, E, erected upon the wall of the chamber, this can or vessel being divided by a partition, a, into two chambers or hoppers, F Gr, one-of which is to contain a supply of powder and the other of shot, and both communicating with the chamber B at alternate periods of time through theports inthe charger or gate, which are concentric with the outlets ej' of the hopper.

The vibrating or reciprocating gate (to which allusion has been made) is shown at H as composed of a flat plate, b, circular or segmental in shape, and having two ports or orifices, c d, formed in it, these orifices being arranged in the path of a circle struck from the pivot of the plate b and being concentric with the outlets c f of the hoppers.

The pivot of the gate is shown at g as a Vertical pin or screw passing upward through the bottom of the chamber B and 'screwing into the bottom of the can or vessel E, while Irepresents a handle screwed to the periphery IOO of the gate and extending outward through a horizontal slot, h, in the wall of the chamber B into a position to'be readily grasped by the operator, and by means of which the semi-rotations or vibrations of the gate are effected, the

' of move'm'eutiof YtheV Ygate'n either direction essential to present its ports in succession to the outlet of the chamber.

To the under side ofthe plate b are secured two boxes, tj, which coincide with the openings c d in the plate b, and constitute the chargers or charging-chambers, the united vlower surface of these boxes bearing upon the bottom ofthe chamber B, while the upper surface ofthe plate b bears closely against the bottom of the vessel E. The chargers t' j are arranged to coincide one with each of the outlets of the hoppers F G upon their respective sides, and both operate at alternate periods of time with the outlet of the chamber, and each has a sliding partition, 7c, operated by a screw, l, by which its capacity may be varied to increase or diminish its charge.

The guide to support the cartridge-shell is shown at J as a straight tube having a trumpet-mouth and disposed upon or against the front face of the machine-frame, and heilig pivotcd at about its center to the latter by a horizontal pivot, m, the position of this guide when upright with respect to the lower end of the outlet of the duct D being such that its trumpet-n'iouth is situated immediately below suchoutlet.

To insure the proper vertical position of the guide I may add to the frame of the machine a stop, against which the side of the guide abuts, and connect the guide and stop with a suitable spring to insure contact of the two; but Iv prefer a bolt hereinafter described.

In place of the stop and spring last described for holding the guide in an upright position, a horizontal spring-bolt, c, may be employed, secured to the lower part of the guide and operating with a socket in the machine-standard to insure the upright position, and with the side ofthe said standard to hold theguide in its inclined position either for the purpose of removing a loaded or entering an unloadedy shell.

Below the guide-tube J, I dispose the shelf or seat which upholds the cartridge-shell while being loaded, such shelf consisting of a disk, o, constituting the upper part of a screwthreaded rod, p, which is screwed within a vertical screw-threaded oritice, g, created in a bracket or ledge, r, of the frame A. By turning the rod p in one or the other direction the height of the shelf or seat with respect to the guide-tube or the interior ledge or shoulder, s, of the same, against which the mouth ot' the cartridge-shell abuts, is raised or lowered, and

the machine thereby adapted to cartridgeshells of varying lengths.

In order that the operator may have a supply of wads readily at hand while loading cartridges, I employ a horizontal shelf, lw, secured to the standard A and situated adjacent to or surrounding the mouth of the guide-tube and flush with the upper end of the latter. A supply of wads is to be placed upon this shelf,

and as one is neededit ispushed withthe fin-V Y Y Y ,Y Y z Y Y ger to and over the edge ot' the shelf and allowed to drop into the mouth of the guidetube.

The rainmcr for driving wads into the cartridge-shell is shown at K as contained within a tubular head, L, constituting the upper front portion of the machine-frame, such rammer and head being disposed in alignment with the axis of the guide-tube J, and the rammer being lowered by a blow of the hand or by a lever, t, pi "oted at base toa standard, u, making part of the machine-frame, and fnlcrumed upon or to the head of the rammer, the handle ofthe lever extending into a position to be readily laid hold ot' by the operator.

The passage or port d in the gate H is, in the present instance, the shot-charger and the hopper G is the shot-magazine; and in carrying out one ofthe important features of my improvements I line the said passage d with a sleeve of india-rubber or other elastic or yielding material, in order that, in the event of a pellet ot' shot beingjammed between the edge of the mouth of the said passage and of the outlet j' of the hopper G, such lining shall yield and deflect the shotinto and through the passage and into the duct D.

It is found in many instances, in the use of these machines as heretofore made, thata pellet of shot often becomes wedged between the unyielding surfaces about the mouths of the openings and the machine becomes inoperative. By the use of the elastic or yielding sleeve or its equivalent this cannot occur.

The elastic lining, instead of being in the gate,may be on the bottom of the shot-hopper G or chamber B.

The normal position of the gateis in one of its extremes, as governed by the handle and slot before named, and with one of its ports full open to the adjacent hopper and its other port closed by the bottom of the can or vessel.

The operation of this machine is briey as follows, it being understood that before filling the hoppers with powder and shot care should he taken that the chargert' for containingpowder is full open to the powder-magazine, andthe shot-charger; consequently closed by the solid portion of the bottom of the shotmagazine: rIhe guide-tube D is now turned to one side, a cartridge-shell inserted through its lower end, and it is then returned to place in a vertical position, the head of the shell resting'upon the disk or seat o. By turning or moving the gate to its extreme opposite position the charge of powder contained inthe IOO chamber or cell c is carried over and discharged into the duct D, and through the latter falls into the cartridge-shell contained in the guide J, the solid portion of the gate closing the outlet of the powder-magazine, while simultaneously with this movement ot'the powder-charger the shot-charger d arrives below the shot-magazine and is iilled with shot. A wad is now placed in the mouth ot' the guidetube D and driven down upon the powder by the rammer and returned toits elevated position. lThe gate is now turned to its full extent in the opposite direction, the result being that the charge of shot in the cell d is carried over and discharged into the duct, and through the latter into the cartridge-shell upon the powder therein, the solid portion ot' the gate keeping back the shot in the magazine, and a second wad is placed in the mouth of the guide-tube and the rammer again lowered to ram the wad upon the shot, when the loading of the shell is completed and it is removed. As the gate describes the last-named movement in discharging its charge of shot its powder-charger arrives beneath the outlet of the powder-magazine, and it becomes filled from the latter in readiness forarenewed movement of the gate in loading a second cartridgeshell. p

In Fig. 2 of the drawings will be seen a peculiar,construction of the interior of the shellguide, which is intended to adapt the latter to both paper and metallic shells. In this case I form the upper interior part of the guide-tube with the peripheral shoulders, ofa diameter corresponding to the mouth ofthe paper shell, and when such paper shell is introduced it fits accurately to such shoulder. As paper shells are seldom or never reloaded, they do not become enlarged and vary in diameter with use.

Hence an arbitrary size of the interior ot the guide-tube is all that is needed for paper shells, and the shoulder s supplies this need. With metallic shells, however, the case is dii'erent, as they are reloaded many times and they eX- pand and increase in diameter Linder successive discharges. Hence a guide of uniform diameter would not answer, as they would be introduced or removed with difficulty. To remedy this objection I gradually increase the diameter of the interior of the guide-tube J for a short distance below the shoulder s, as shown at c', the result of which is that the mouth of the metallic shell will always find a bearing within the tube.

I claim- 1. In a cartridge-loading machine, the combination, with the hopper-outlet passage and vibrating gate, ot' a rubber or other iiexible elastic lining for said gate, substantially as set forth.

2. In a cartridge-loading machine, the combination, with suitable feeding and packing devices, of pivoted guide J, spring-pressed bolt t, and the recessed or socketed standard, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with plunger K, guide J, scato, hopperE, gate H, and table W, the block A, constructed to receive and hold all of said parts in their proper positions and places, whereby a single piece suffices for the whole frame, and the machine is made very compact and simple.

In testimony whereof I afix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' 'ORLANDO F. BELGHER.

Witnesses:

H. E. LODGE, F. G. SIMPsoN. 

